The southern region of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) handled 8.03 lakh tonnes of cargo during 2010-11 as against 6.65 lakh tonnes in 2009-10, recording a growth of 20.73 per cent.

In fact, the southern region contributed almost one-third to the total cargo handled by AAI in India.

This was revealed by Mr D. Devaraj, Regional Executive-Director of AAI, Southern Region, while making a presentation on ‘Challenges in aviation and tourism in India' at a national conference on ‘Indian aviation and tourism: Opportunities, challenges and new directions' in Mangalore. He said that better cargo handling facilities led to enhanced trade promotion of capital goods.

International cargo up

Giving details , he said international cargo contributed 5.66 lakh tonnes (4.72 lakh tonnes) and domestic cargo 2.36 lakh tonnes (1.93 lakh tonnes) during 2010-11. Of the 2.353 million tonnes of cargo handled by all regions of AAI in 2010-11, the southern region's share stood at 0.803 million tonnes. This was 34.49 per cent of the cargo handled by all regions of AAI during that year.

Later, in an informal chat with Business Line , he said that the old terminal building in Mangalore airport will be used for handling cargo, for which a plan is being worked out. Domestic cargo handling from Mangalore airport is likely to start by December this year. Asked about international cargo handling from Mangalore, he said AAI was working with the Customs Department in this regard.

The southern region of AAI covers Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the Union Territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry. The conference was jointly organised by AAI, Mangalore University and the Mangalore Airport Diamond Jubilee Celebration Committee.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW